JPMorgan Chase & Co. Lowers Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) Price Target to $47.00

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) had its target price lowered by equities research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $49.00 to $47.00 in a note issued to investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the cell phone carrier’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price points to a potential upside of 18.19% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “hold (c+)” rating in a report on Friday, October 24th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Verizon Communications from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, September 26th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Verizon Communications from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 10th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Verizon Communications from $50.50 to $51.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane downgraded shares of Verizon Communications from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $44.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and thirteen have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $47.41.

Verizon Communications Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of NYSE VZ opened at $39.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.60. Verizon Communications has a 1 year low of $37.58 and a 1 year high of $47.35. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $42.31 and a 200 day simple moving average of $42.84. The firm has a market cap of $167.67 billion, a PE ratio of 8.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.03 and a beta of 0.37.

Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The cell phone carrier reported $1.21 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.19 by $0.02. Verizon Communications had a net margin of 14.43% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $33.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $34.19 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.19 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Verizon Communications will post 4.69 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Verizon Communications

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of VZ. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Verizon Communications in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,504,150,000. GQG Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 303.9% during the 1st quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 49,859,967 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $2,261,648,000 after acquiring an additional 37,516,167 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Verizon Communications during the 1st quarter worth $661,720,000. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 737.5% during the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 11,697,003 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $530,576,000 after acquiring an additional 10,300,369 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Verizon Communications by 301.2% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 8,504,920 shares of the cell phone carrier’s stock worth $385,750,000 after acquiring an additional 6,385,197 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 62.06% of the company’s stock.

About Verizon Communications

Verizon Communications Inc, through its subsidiaries, engages in the provision of communications, technology, information, and entertainment products and services to consumers, businesses, and governmental entities worldwide. It operates in two segments, Verizon Consumer Group (Consumer) and Verizon Business Group (Business).